By Victor Anazonwu
To mankind’s credit, we have come a long way from the days when the color of a man’s skin was the sole determinant of his rank and station. Today, with China and India among the World’s fastest growing economies and a man of African descent as former President of the United States of America, those days may seem like eons away. Yet every now and again, the world’s racial prejudices re-emerge in bold relief as if only carefully hidden away – not truly discarded.
The recent gruesome murder of African American George Floyd by three White policemen is a timely reminder of how little the world has really changed. And how, almost certainly, this will not be the last scandal.
It is spectacularly ironic that today some of the worst forms of primitive racism are unfolding in the US, a country which spent the better part of the last century preaching the gospel of human rights and freedoms. How are the mighty fallen?
But make no mistake about it, the weevils are everywhere. They go by such names as Far Right, Neo-Nazi, Conservatives or Nationalists. In French politics, they account for about 18 percent of all votes, mostly supporters of the National Front which espouses ultra-conservative views on matters like immigration. The founder of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was once quoted as saying that the French World Cup winning squad of 1998 was “not an accurate reflection of French society” because it contained too many non-White players.
Across color lines they are called racists. Within the same color spectrum, they are ethnic, regional, national, sectional or tribal champions. They preach division and exclusion in a word in dire need of collaboration and inclusion. They loathe the presence of others with different physical attributes, beliefs, languages or practices. They espouse the superiority of their kind over others. Such was the affliction of Adolf Hitler who, confronted by Jewish industry and accomplishments, concocted the evil Nazi philosophies of Aryan superiority and anti-Semitism. Not only was he shamed by the heroics of a Blackman, Jesse Owen, in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, he was later to lead the world into the Second World War, his country to ruin and himself to suicide. These calamities became the ultimate proof of the mortal error and poverty of his judgment.
Clearly, racism is a disease of the mind. In my observation, it afflicts mostly those who are insecure and fear they might lose out in a fair contest for limited opportunities. Because as individuals they are weak, they need to be “high” on group stereotype to function at all. Racism becomes the drug that lifts them up from debilitation and gives them a sense of power. In truth, they are weak, sick and desperately in need of help. Normal, confident people don’t discriminate or seek to beat down others. They compete fair and square and accept the occasional failure.
God created all the species in diversity for greater beauty and complementarity. Just as no architect designs and builds a house with only one material. Instead, he uses concrete, steel, aluminum, glass, wood, ceramics, leather, cloth and paint – each suited for a different aspect of the structure. Likewise, God uses people of different races, dispositions, talents and endowments to make a vibrant humanity. Anyone who is unable to grasp this simple truth is mentally handicapped and deserves pity. Perhaps the time has come for racism (and its other derivatives) to be declared a global mental health disorder.
In the meantime, the best way to stop racism against blacks is for blacks worldwide to deliberately work their way out of an unfavorable group narrative dominated by poverty, dependency and shortage of self-respect. Marching the streets alone won’t cut it. When we stop looting our own countries and dying to go elsewhere, other races will stop disrespecting us. When the statistics show that in business, economics, innovation and nation-building we are as good or better than our traducers, this form of racism will die a natural death. We must stop being victims and start being curators of a new reality. That much is in our own hands.
Africans and people of African descent are not the only ones who have suffered racism or prejudice. Nearly every part of humanity has been on the receiving end of the scourge at one time or the other – the English, the Irish, the French, the Arabs, the Russians, the Americans, the Jews, the Indians, the Japanese and the Chinese. We will do well to learn from history how some of these overcame the burden. China today provides a living, breathing example.
Those who shrink in disgust at the sight of three White men killing George Floyd will do well to look a little closer. Deep prejudices persist even within the same color spectrums and communities. Some call it tribalism. Others call it ethnicity or sectionalism. In India, the ancient caste system is still alive and well. In my country, Nigeria, many are still enslaved to ideas of ethnic or regional supremacy. If racism is diabolical and despicable, then tribalism is worse – for the very reason that it is perpetrated by people of identical stock. It is like self-inflicted injury.
The divine purpose for diversity, it seems, is to encourage humility, interdependence and co-operation for mutual advancement. But it is clear that mankind has chosen otherwise. We use our differences, however ephemeral, as weapons of conflict, not as motives for collaboration.
If anyone is unable to appreciate that everything he is and has is a gift and not an entitlement, then such a person genuinely deserves pity. For no one chose or earned where he was born, by what parentage and to what race. And he is clearly inferior – in wisdom – who cannot grasp the limits of his own gifts or see the beauty in others.
Victor Anazonwu is a journalist, communication consultant, and author of the book, “The 8 Habits of Highly Ineffective People.” He lives in Lagos and belongs to the ’75 set.
